Book Review — Chaser: A Dive Bar Novel by Kylie Scott

[They] were the best things to happen to me in a long time. Being with them made me feel good, gave me a purpose. They made me want to be better, to do better. No messing around, no sex or anything to make things confused. I was going to be someone they could both rely on if it killed me.
Decision made.

SWOOOOOON!! Chaser was a sweet, heart-warming romance that left me smiling from ear to ear!! As a long-time reader of Kylie Scott’s books and a fan of the Dive Bar series, I’d been looking forward to this book ever since it was announced and I’m pleased to say it was another winner! All the books in this series have been what I’d consider to be the perfect lazy-afternoon, feel-good reads. They have heat, heart, and swoon — a winning romance combo!

Bartender and all round bad boy, Eric Collins, has come to a crossroads. It’s time to take life seriously and maybe even attempt to settle down. If only the person he was hoping to settle down with didn’t turn out to be pregnant.

Starting over in a small town, Jean is determined to turn her wild lifestyle around and be the kind of mother she always wished she’d had. Since local bar owner and all round hottie, Eric, is now determined to steer clear of her pregnant self, it should be easy. When she goes into labor during a snowstorm and her car slides on some ice, however, it’s Eric who comes to the rescue.

There seems to be a bond between them now, but is it enough? And can Eric give up his manwhore ways to be the man Jean needs?

So as you can imagine, this particular book features a single, heavily-pregnant heroine who has just moved across the country to get away from her judgmental family to find a quiet, happier place to have her baby. She ends up in Eric’s bar and for the first time in his life, the serial manwhore finds himself growing to care for someone in a way he’d never felt before. He’d always been upfront about what he wanted from his hookups and never gave anyone the impression that he’d ever want a relationship, but something about this woman who was off-limits to him on so many levels made him start give a part of himself that he’d never before given.

[They] were the best things to happen to me in a long time. Being with them made me feel good, gave me a purpose. They made me want to be better, to do better. No messing around, no sex or anything to make things confused. I was going to be someone they could both rely on if it killed me.
Decision made.

Not gonna lie, but he really did start out as rather clueless and self-absorbed. He definitely wasn’t hero material in the beginning of the book, but when it truly counted, the way he stood up to helping care for her and her new baby when he had no obligation to other than just a desire to help was really heart-warming and also made his character arc much more interesting because we really got to see him grow as a person and change in a big way.

“Here she is,” The nurse arrived back and rested a tiny bundle wrapped in a blanket beside Jean’s face. “Eric, can you hold her?”
“Me?”
“You’ll be all right,” she insisted. “Just slip a hand under her neck to support her head and another beneath the body.”
… Oh so fucking carefully I took over control of the tiny angry person. Her little face was bright red, dark eyes accusing…
“She’s judging me.”
Jean, lying exhausted on the hospital bed, just raised her brows. “How exactly is she judging you?”
“The look she’s giving me is totally judgey,” I frowned back at the baby lying in my arms… Turned out, the longer I held her, the less scary it got.

There were so many sweet scenes and I loved that they first grew to be close friends before they became lovers and I also loved that he really proved he’d changed and grown as a person before she accepted him as anything more.

“So you’re going to name her Erica, right?”
“Dream on,” said Jean.
“Eric-arella?”
Another of those shaky laughs.
“Eric-ina and that’s my final offer.”
She just looked at me.
“Oh come on,” I said. “That’s a nice name. It just rolls off the tongue.”

My only pet peeve was that many of his friends kept giving the most awful relationship and life advice. They caused a lot more damage than good and he would have gotten his shit together a lot sooner if it weren’t for their meddling. However, regardless of that they did mean well so it was harder to fault them even though it was annoying.

I definitely enjoyed this read though. I read it cover-to-cover in one sitting and consider it a wonderful addition to this series of standalones. I love reading books where the hero accepts a child that isn’t biologically his into his life as though they were his own and it was also really great to read happening from the male POV. It was heart-warming on such a deep level and if you love reading stories like that too, then this is definitely the book for you!